Internal driver error in IDirect3DDevice9:: present()

Article ID: 5204-UOSN-9830 Created: May 08, 2008

Basic Troubleshooting

1. Update Your Video Card Drivers

   The most common cause of this error is out of date or corrupted video card drivers. Please make sure your video card drivers are up to date. You may also consider reinstalling your video card drivers if the game previously worked correctly on the same hardware you are using now.

   Detailed instructions on the best method for updating or reinstalling video drivers can be found in the Updating Drivers Guide.

2. Check Your Video Settings

   If you are using advanced features such as anti-aliasing, motion blur or HDR, try changing the setting recommended by the game engine to something lower in order to test the issue. For example, if you are currently using "Triple Buffering", try setting it to "Anisotropic Filtering 2x" and see if there is a difference in stability. All of these options can be found in the "advanced" section of your video settings in the game's menu.

3. Check Your Firewall Settings

   If there are multiple instances of Steam.exe, HL2.exe or any other executable files related to Source games, these all need to be given permission in your firewall. To ensure that your firewall is correctly configured for Steam, please follow the Using a Firewall with Steam guide.

4. Verify Your Game Cache Files

   Note: the following instructions will result in the deletion of your config and save game files. It is strongly recommended that you backup your game files before attempting these instructions. The easiest way to backup these files is to copy the SteamApps folder to a different location on your hard drive.

   • Log out and exit Steam.
   • Delete the folder for the game you are experiencing the crash in, located in the Steam folder by default. For example:

     C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\( Steam account name )\team fortress 2

   • Once the folder has been deleted, please launch Steam and then follow the Verifying GCF Cache Files guide.
5. Disable Conflicting Background Applications

   We've received reports that anti-virus software such as Norton/Symantec has been linked to this issue. If you are running any sort of anti-virus and/or Internet security software, please disable it by following Disabling Background Applications guide.

Advanced Troubleshooting

If the instructions above do not resolve the issue, please follow these directions.

1. Using Launch Options

   Setting different launch options can allow the game to run without crashing. The first launch option to try is:

   -autoconfig

   If that does not seem to help, then please replace that launch option with:

   -dxlevel 80 -window

   If that launch option does not allow the game to run, please use the following:

   -dxlevel 80 -window +r_rootlod 2 +mat_picmip 2 +mat_reducefillrate 1 +r_waterforceexpensive 0 +r_waterforcereflectentities 0 +r_shadowrendertotexture 0 +AntiAliasing 0 +mat_antialias 0

   If you are not sure how to set game launch options, please follow the Setting Game Launch Options guide.